John Brookes & Phillip Harvey Tackle the North Wales Woods

Forest Flyers

In a departure from the last few seasons, the first round of the 2026 HRCR Mini Cup was
this year held on gravel, courtesy of W&SSCC’s Rally North Wales. Based in the very
spacious surroundings of Welshpool Livestock Market, the organisers had very kindly
arranged to run a separate Mini Challenge ahead of the field. The main event was to be
run over two loops of 3 stages in Aberhirnant and Dyfnant, totalling some 45 miles, whilst
the Mini event ran over just one loop of around 22.5 miles. This provided some prime
forestry stages at a much reduced cost and running at the front of the field, they were in
superb condition.
Five Mini’s had risen to the challenge, with last years Mini Cup winning crew of Clive King/
Anton Bird leading the pack and a freshly rebuilt engine ready to defend their crown for
the coming season. The chasing pack was led by Eric Davis/Russell Joseph in their
Clubman who were hoping to go well on their preferred surface. Next up Craig King had
performed well in the forests on last years Wydean and had enlisted Kevin Hogan to call
the notes. Harvey Stevens/Craig Hardiman were next up and looking for a trouble free run
to start the season. Returning to the Mini Cup fray after a bit of a lay-off were John
Brooks/Phillip Harvey in their very pretty Mini Clubman, this being the cars first time into
the forests. Currently, forest tyres for Mini’s are not in great supply so while King/Bird and
King/Hogan were on 10” Kingpin remould tyres, the other three cars were all on 12”
MaxSport tyres.
Running at the front of the field meant an unusually early start for the Mini’s with King/Bird
leading the cars out of Welshpool just after 07:30 for the long run-out to Aberhirnant.
There had been some rain overnight but the day had started quite sunny. Rumours that
the stage was like a motorway were well founded as it was in excellent condition,
although care was needed on the very fast final section and hairpin over the finish. King/
Bird took no time at all to settle in and set a scorching pace, taking over a minute off
Davis/Joseph on the 9 mile stage with King/Hogan just 1.8 seconds further back and
looking to mount a challenge for that 2nd spot. Stevens/Hardiman manage to find an
accommodating ditch after only 3 corners but keeping the throttle planted managed to
pull the car out again. Brooks/Harvey took things fairly steady in the Clubman and while
the car was new, the same could not be said for the drivers boots ! The long lay-off had
not been kind to them and midway through the 1st stage, the soles of both boots became
detached from the rest of the boots. John thereafter looking resplendent with his boot
soles now suitably held in place with black tank tape.
The first of the two Dyfnant stages was narrower than the previous stage with a good few
slippy hairpins and occasional damp patch making the 8 mile stage tricky to read in
places. King/Bird maintained their pace at the front and even with a half-spin part way
through the stage, again took over a minute from the chasing pack. Davis/Joseph had
trouble starting the car at the start of the stage, needing a push to get going. The strange
noises through the stage later revealing itself to be a loose starter motor. King/Hogan
were still pushing hard to catch them, finishing just 0.6 seconds in arrears. Stevens/
Hardiman had a slight wrong slot costing a few seconds whilst Brooks/Harvey had a
couple of close encounters with ditches but survived intact.

Regular Contenders Eric Davis and Russell Joseph

The stages thus far had been excellent with the rough link road between the two Dyfnant
stages being the only place on the event where sump guards were needed ! The 6 miles

of Dyfnant 2 were again quite narrow and busy at the start whilst the final 1.5 miles were
more open and very quick. King/Bird managed to make it a clean sweep of stage wins,
taking overall honours despite getting caught out and having a bit of a “moment” at the
tricky offset crossroads. King/Hogan were going well on this stage, a small indiscretion at
one hairpin exciting the spectators but managing to finish just 26 seconds behind and
snatching 2nd overall. Davis/Joseph had concerns about the loose starter and dropped
some 13 seconds in their battle for 2nd but were happy to make it to the finish line in 3rd
place overall. Stevens/Hardiman had a couple of scary moments but finished 4th and very
happy to get another finish under their belts. Brooks/Harvey were another crew who had
a moment at the off-set crossroads, a spin costing them a good few seconds. Brooks
blaming the Tank Tape for his boots slipping off the pedals but happy to get to the finish
with the car looking muddy but unmarked.
The event was all over just after 11:30. It had been a great format that did no harm to the
surface of the stages for the main field but provided first class competition for the Mini’s.
Many thanks to W&SSCC for organising the event and accommodating the Mini’s in this
way. Thanks also to the marshalls and helpers who were out in force and doing a great
job.

Harvey Stevens gives Craig Hardiman a Forest Experience